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You’ve just uploaded your content and it looks beautiful—the headlines are sharp, the images practically jump off the page, and the SEO is on point. Your team spent hours creating and proofing it, and now it’s finally published.

But is good writing enough to make you stand out online? Or does the real power lie in how you use content marketing distribution channels to get your message directly in front of your audience?

According to cloud service DOMO, here’s an average of what’s being created and shared in just one minute online: 

  • Instagram users are sharing 46,740 photos
  • Twitter users are producing 456,000 tweets
  • YouTube users are watching 4,146,600 videos
  • Internet users are conducting 3,607,080 Google searches

And that’s only a snapshot of a few platforms.  If you don’t understand and use content distribution channels, and only ever worry about publishing it online, there’s a risk the very people you put together content for will never read it amidst all the noise of online platforms.

What Are Content Marketing Channels

Content distribution channels are the places your audiences go to when searching for information, and therefore the places you should be promoting your content. There are four content distribution channels you can use to increase your reach:

Paid Media

Paid media is a method where businesses pay a channel to promote their content.

Examples: paid Facebook ads, Pinterest ads, Google ads, Podcast ads, Sponsored Instagram content, or Sponsored videos.

Advantages: Speeds up the process of acquiring audience attention you haven’t been able to reach organically.

Disadvantages: This option can become very expensive and sometimes have little ROI if you’re not targeting the right audiences.

Earned Media

Earned media is a method where third parties with influence promote or share your content by their own will.

Examples: A popular blogger links to your piece, an Instagram influencer shares your content in a story, or a news outlet promotes your content.

Advantages: Your content gains exposure to new audiences at no cost.

Disadvantages: You can’t control who promotes or shares content, which can be a problem if the person sharing it is controversial.

Shared Media

Shared media is a method where you place content on platforms, like social networking sites, and then users themselves continue distributing it. It also includes user-generated feedback. Social media optimization is continuing to be a major factor in helping businesses be found online.

Examples: Users share a Facebook post, Instagram users tag someone on your post, or someone leaves a review on Google to share with others.

Advantages: This option is either free or at a low-cost to you and since users distribute or generate content about your piece, it can build trust in your brand.

Disadvantages: You can’t control the spread of shared media that’s tied to negative user feedback. The best you can do is be vigilant for any negative shared media and then respond appropriately.

Owned Media

Owned media is a method where you are in full control of the content and you’re handling the publishing and distributing yourself.

Examples: Publishing a blog on your website, creating a landing page for an event, publishing a whitepaper in your resources, or producing your weekly podcast.

If you interested in learning to start your own podcast, our B2B podcasting guide covers everything you need to know before you take the deep dive into podcasting.

Advantages: This option is either free or at a low-cost to you (if you’re paying someone to manage your owned media channels). You also have full control over this channel and how content is distributed.

Disadvantages: Distribution is limited. Only audiences who are visiting that site or know about the content are finding it. It’s limited to the people who already know about your content or happen to find it while searching online.

The best distribution plan isn’t limited to one of these channels. Instead, it takes a multi-channel content marketing approach and combines the channels. Just using one channel will limit your reach, but by combining the channels you can continue driving traffic to a piece of content long after it’s published.

The Importance of Content Distribution

Envision this. Your team has spent hours working on a video. You got the staff together to make it, coached them during filming, and then spent time editing it to create an informative piece of content. 

Now imagine what happens if you just publish it on your website and make one Facebook post announcing it. Ultimately, you’ll see the video’s traffic spike. That’s great right? 

Except when you go to check on it days or weeks later, you’ll likely find traffic has dropped. And if you check that video maybe even a year later, it might not even have any traffic. 

Too many businesses think it’s enough to post content on their site and then promote it in one post on their social media account. When you spent all that time, money, and effort creating content, did you really want it to only be viewed for just a few days after it’s posted?

Now Imagine you did the following instead with your video:

  • You publish the video on your website highlighting a service.
  • You post on Facebook to draw attention to its release.
  • Your followers respond to it, some comment, and a few share it.
  • You decide to use it in a targeted ad and it reaches a new audience.
  • After the ad runs, data shows an increase in traffic for that service.
  • You work it into an email campaign.
  • You later see an influential person in your industry shares the video on their own will.
  • After that figure shares it you see your traffic increase again.
  • Later you’re answering a question on Quora and link to the video to help explain.
  • After linking your content on Quora you notice traffic again rises upward.

Because you used a multi-channel content distribution strategy your work engaged current clients, reached potential audiences, and earned the attention of an industry influencer and his or her followers.

The importance of content marketing distribution channels shouldn’t be overlooked, because by using them you ensure audiences actually see what you create. Why create something if no one is seeing it? If you simply post content on your site and move on to the next piece, your current and potential audiences won’t know it exists.

The old way of thinking says “content is king”, but marketer Ross Simmonds has coined a more accurate mantra for content creation. He pushes creators to abide by “D.R.E.A.M – distribution rules everything around me.”

A man sits by a wall thinking with a lightbulb drawn above him.

What Type of Content Should You Be Creating?

Distribution aside, you still need to be creating good content that’s worthy of sharing. If what you’re sharing isn’t put together well, a diverse strategy across content marketing distribution channels won’t fix the fact that what you created doesn’t add value to the conversation. There are two strategies you should use to create valuable content.

First, create content that aligns with the awareness stage of a buyer’s journey. There are a lot of nuances to that journey, but clients typically move through four phases:

  1. Awareness Stage
  2. Consideration Stage
  3. Decision Stage
  4. Post-decision Stage

When you set out to make content, think about what phase your client is at when they’re looking for information on that topic. Then create and answer the questions you think they’d have at that stage.

Second, use the “Skyscraper Strategy” to create content that will perform well. A simple Google search will show you the top-performing content. Especially when writing, the skyscraper technique primarily helps you see what those articles at the top of google cover.

After reading through some of those pieces, write something better! You can see what they’ve done well and what basic information you should cover. But what do those resources miss? Now is your chance to include that information, go more into detail, and as a result become the new authoritative resource.

Pros and Cons of Different Content

So what content should you be creating to share in the first place? That looks different for every business, so you really need to pick and choose based on the resources you have and your audience.

We’ve broken out popular types of content and what you should consider before creating them, so you can decide what works best for your business:

Blogs

Pros: Good way to share educational information about your industry, easy to create and distribute, a good way to be seen as an expert source

Cons: Lots of competition online, time-consuming, requires writing skills

Videos

Pros: Visual, engaging, higher conversion rates on certain platforms (like social media)

Cons: Need special equipment, editing footage can take time, requires visual & auditory skills

Podcasts

Pros: Engages with a fixed audience, no ad competition, builds intimacy with listeners

Cons: Need special equipment, editing sound can take time, requires auditory skills

Ads

Pros: Extends your reach, allows for specific targeting, quickly increases brand awareness

Cons: Can be costly, requires the right messaging

Infographics

Pros: Engages people visually, captures attention

Cons: Take time to create, requires design and editing skills

Where to Distribute Digital Content

Once you’ve created content that aligns with your business’ ability and the needs of your audience, it’s time to get down to actually distributing it. You understand the content marketing distribution channels and have created your distribution strategy, but what are the actual platforms you can use?

There are plenty of options, and new platforms are created every year that rise to popularity. Here are some ideas of a few you can get started with to distribute your content. Remember to always look out for emerging platforms that’d be appropriate for reaching your audience.

Blogs

The best platforms you can use to distribute your blog content include:

Videos

The best platforms you can use to distribute your videos include:

  • Your own website
  • Youtube (offers paid and organic posting)
  • Vimeo
  • Facebook
  • Instagram (for short content)
  • TikTok
  • Snapchat

Podcasts

The best platforms you can use to distribute your podcasts include:

  • Apple podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Google Play Music
  • Overcast
  • Stitcher

Ads

The best platforms you can use to distribute your ads include:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Google Ads
  • Bing Ads
  • Quora
  • Answer.com
  • Reddit
  • Twitter

Infographics

The best platforms you can use to distribute your infographics include:

  • Your website
  • Slideshare
  • Quora
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

Paid vs. Free Content Distribution

Every business is different, so there’s no exact rule on how much of each to use. The best advice is to just make sure you use both methods. Over time collect data and see what content does better for paid vs. free content distribution. Then plan and continue experimenting to find what works.

By organically distributing content for free, you can connect with loyal followers and build relationships with influential people. It’s important to gain an understanding of this type of distribution since it will save your business money.

However, paid distribution is worth it if your budget allows for it. It offers a way to take those start pieces of content and place them into potential audiences you haven’t been able to reach organically. And it helps you grow your followers more quickly.

A woman runs up imaginary steps on a wall.

Automated Content Distribution

Content distribution can become a chore in itself. If you’re finding that it’s hard to devote enough time to distributing, consider ways that you can automate the process. Take advantage of tools that will let you schedule distribution ahead of time, so you can plan it for weeks at a time. 

First, assess what task you’d like to save time doing. Then research to see if there are automated platforms you’d trust to handle that type of distribution.

For example, on Facebook you can use the publishing tools to schedule posts promoting content. You can choose everything down to the date and time of distribution. That way you can frontload your work and not have to constantly devote time to going in and posting every week.Platforms like Hootsuite will even allow you to manage scheduling posts on different social media platforms from the same place. Other pieces of content, like email marketing, can also be automated with a third-party service, like Active Campaign.

Yes, Content Marketing Distribution Channels Matter

Look at it this way – are you creating content you want people to see? Chances are you answered yes and that’s why publishing should never be the last step when you’re creating a content marketing strategy. If you don’t have a multi-channel distribution process, you’re just wasting a lot of effort creating work that no one will engage with. There’s a risk they won’t even know it exists.

However, if you do have a distribution plan it’s likely that you won’t just get engagement from your current audiences, but that you’ll also find new ones! Your content is a valuable resource for growing your audience base — that’s why you should prioritize distributing it.

If you find your team is lacking the time and manpower to manage distribution, consider if hiring a digital marketing agency is right for you. By doing so, you have a team of experts handling the details of creating relevant content and distributing it effectively.

By relying on an agency, you can free your team to focus on product and service development instead. Your content ultimately wins too because you have experienced professionals using their industry knowledge and strategies to boost engagement and ensure it is actually reaching your audience. Remember, content is only worth it if it’s actually being seen.

Need help distributing your content? Talk with our team of experts to learn more about how you can increase your work’s visibility online for your audience.

Increase Online Visibility

Have you ever used direct mail marketing for your business? In the digital age, many marketers avoid direct mail because they think it’s old-fashioned and can’t compete with other channels. Other companies have used direct mail before, but weren’t happy with their ROI because their campaign wasn’t well executed.

If you’ve ever asked “what is direct mail marketing?” or want to learn more about this time-tested marketing channel, we’re here to help. This ultimate guide provides the basics you need to understand direct mail marketing. We’ve also sprinkled in tips and advice that will help you execute your next campaign like a pro.

What Is Direct Mail Marketing?

Before we can get into the details, it’s important to define direct mail and direct mail marketing. Let’s start by answering a common question :: what is direct mail?

Direct mail is print marketing that’s sent out in the mail (usually via the USPS). It can come in a variety of formats, such as postcards, brochures, and parcels. Direct mail can contain coupons and offers, or it can be purely informational with a soft call to action (CTA). Direct mail is sent to a predefined group of people on a mailing list or carrier route (a smaller segment of a ZIP Code).

Direct mail marketing is a form of direct marketing that targets people with direct mail pieces sent in the mail. Like any marketing channel, it has its own set of best practices. We’ll take a closer look at two of them below.

Direct Mail Best Practice :: The 40 / 40 / 20 Rule

When it comes to direct marketing, the 40 / 40 / 20 Rule is one of the oldest plays in the book. This guideline was developed in the 1960s by marketing pioneer Ed Mayer. Basically, the 40 / 40 / 20 Rule provides advice on how marketers should break down their direct marketing efforts.

While the 40 / 40 / 20 Rule was created in the pre-Internet age, it’s still relevant today — especially for direct mail marketing. The 40 / 40 / 20 Rule breaks successful direct marketing down into three main elements :: audience, offer, and everything else.

  1. Audience. You should focus 40% of your attention on choosing the right audience for your direct mail piece. Even if your mail piece is perfectly designed, your efforts will be wasted if you send it to people who aren’t interested or can’t use your offer.
  2. Offer. Mayer recommends putting 40% of your energy into creating a relevant offer. Providing recipients with an appealing offer they can actually use encourages them to take action. Including a CTA with your offer is very helpful because your audience knows their next steps.
  3. Everything else. Dedicate the final 20% of your time and energy to the details. This includes elements like direct mail format, design, and copy.

Direct Mail Best Practice :: Reach vs. Frequency

Balancing reach with frequency is also critical to any direct mail marketing strategy. Here’s what we mean by reach and frequency:

  • Reach is the number of people you send your direct mail piece to. In other words, it’s the number of people on your mailing list or carrier route. If you mail to 2,500 people, your reach for that campaign is 2,500.
  • Frequency is the number of times you send your direct mail piece to the same person. If the same person sees your ad two times, the frequency for that campaign is two.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking reach is more important than frequency. You want to get in front of as many people as possible, right? Not necessarily! According to the Rule of Seven, people must see your brand at least seven times before they notice it and take action. That’s a lot of impressions!

With this in mind, you should always prioritize frequency over reach when sending direct mail. Mail to a smaller group of people several times, instead of a large group of people one time. Like any marketing channel, consistency is key to your success because it helps you stay top of mind.

Can Direct Mail Marketing Work for My Business?

Yes! Direct mail works for businesses and organizations in every industry you can think of. Here’s a short list of businesses and organizations that can benefit from direct mail:

  • Restaurants
  • Gyms
  • Grocery Stores
  • Churches
  • HVAC Companies
  • Landscaping Companies
  • Accounting / Tax Firms
  • Automotive Shops
  • Dentists
  • Salons

Whether you’re looking to boost sales, increase brand awareness, or reactivate lapsed customers, direct mail can do it all.

Not convinced yet? Just check out these direct mail response rates from the Compu-Mail. The response rate to direct mail can be as high as 37%. Direct mail also pairs well with digital marketing. And Merkle reports that campaigns using both direct mail and digital marketing saw a 118% lift in response rates, as opposed to campaigns that only use one advertising channel.

Who Should I Send My Direct Mail To?

Figuring out who to target with your direct mail is the first step of any successful campaign. Who you mail to varies based on the goals of your direct mail campaign, which we’ll discuss later. First, let’s look at three common methods marketers use to segment their direct mail audience.

Ways to Segment Your Direct Mail Audience

There are a variety of ways to segment your audience into groups with shared characteristics. Here are three of the most common:

  • Geographic segmentation. This method is exactly what it sounds like and involves targeting people within a specific geographic area. This might be people who live within a specific ZIP Code, carrier route, or radius of your business.
  • Demographic segmentation. This method breaks people down into groups that share specific personal characteristics. These can include gender, race, income, education, and employment.
  • Firmographic segmentation. This method is used in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. It breaks companies into groups based on traits like industry, location, customer type, legal status, and performance.

Putting Audience Segmentation Into Action

So, what does audience segmentation look like when it comes to direct mail marketing? Here are a few examples:

  • New mover campaigns. These help you drum up business with people who are new to your area. You can purchase a mailing list of new movers and get to them before the competition.
  • Grand opening campaigns. Opening a new location? Use geographic segmentation to target people who live within a certain area of your new location.
  • Abandoned cart campaigns. Use your eCommerce platform to identify people who have abandoned their online shopping cart. Mailing them a special offer for the product / service they were interested in can get them to complete their transaction. Abandoned cart remarketing is commonly done via email, but direct mail is also a great option because most companies don’t use it for this purpose.
  • Birthday campaigns. Obtain a list of prospects with birthdays or mail to your existing customer database during their birthday month. Making this personal connection can encourage them to take action on your CTA.
  • Rewards club / loyalty program campaigns. Show appreciation for members of your rewards club or loyalty program by sending them special offers. This is a great way to upsell, since they’re already brand advocates.
  • Upsell campaigns. Send existing customers an offer for an item that complements something they recently bought from you. For example, if someone purchases bait from your sporting goods store, send them an offer for a fishing rod. Even if they aren’t in the market for a rod at the moment, they’ll be reminded of your brand and may purchase from you again in the future.
  • Winback campaigns. Since you already have data on lapsed customers, it’s easy and inexpensive to create a personalized offer they’re likely to respond to.

What Are Direct Mail Formats?

So, you know who to mail to and the campaign type that’s best for you. But which direct mail format should you choose? This is a very important decision, and the format you choose can have a big influence on whether your campaign is successful. Here are a handful of the most common direct mail formats.

Brochures / Menus

Brochures have more space than some other direct mail formats, so they’re perfect for sharing detailed information about your products / services. If you run a foodservice business, your brochure might take the form of a menu. Menus help boost brand exposure because recipients may put them on the fridge or in a kitchen drawer.

Letters

Because they’re sealed in an envelope, letters can feel more confidential than other formats. They also offer a lot of personalization options. They’re great for things like prospecting and upselling to existing customers.

Postcards

Postcards work well for prospecting because they’re an inexpensive way to get in front of people who may not be familiar with your business yet. Make a great introductory offer, and you may just get them through your doors. You can also send postcards to existing customer lists, like people with birthdays or members of your loyalty program.

Direct mail postcards have evolved far beyond the traditional 4” x 6” postcard. Today, companies can send interactive postcards that play video content or have scratch-away stickers with special offers printed underneath.

Periodicals

According to the USPS, periodicals are newspapers, magazines, and other publications sent to a list of opt-in subscribers. Businesses use periodicals to stay top-of-mind with existing customers, boost brand awareness among prospects, and provide information on their products or services.

Packages

Businesses that sell expensive products / services might send parcels (like gift boxes) to high-value customers / prospects. This usually costs more than sending other direct mail formats, but it can pay off if customers make repeat purchases or if your product / service has a high price point.

Which Direct Mail Mailing List is Right for Me?

Once you know who you’re mailing to, you’re ready to get your direct mailing list. Like we said before, your target audience plays a key role in the mailing list you choose. Let’s take a look at two common mailing list types and the USPS Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) service.

Targeted Mailing Lists

Like the name suggests, these mailing lists target specific people based on shared traits. Say your business designs and manufactures high-end navigational systems for yachts. You wouldn’t mail to just anybody, right? Instead, you’d get a targeted mailing list comprised of yacht owners or people who have expressed interest in nautical navigation systems in the past.

As you can see, targeting a specific group of people with shared traits helps you reach individuals who might be more receptive to your offer. Knowing their names and a few personal traits also helps make your direct mail more personal, which can increase response rates by up to 36%.

Targeted mailing lists can be expensive depending on how specific they are. A house customer list is another example of a targeted mailing list, but it’s free since you already own the names on the list.

Saturation Mailing Lists

Saturation mailing lists contain the names of people who live within a certain geographic area. As a result, they help you blanket specific areas with your direct mail campaigns. Saturation lists work best for businesses that offer a product or service almost anybody could use, like restaurants and auto shops.

Because they’re less specific, saturation mailing lists usually cost less than targeted lists. However, you can still do some targeting when you use a saturation list. You can remove the following address types from a saturation list:

  • Business addresses
  • PO Boxes
  • Some residential addresses (i.e. apartments, seasonal dwellings, drop addresses)

If you do choose to remove address types from your list, make sure you still adhere to the 90 / 75 Rule to get the best postage rates. This stipulates that you must mail to 90% of all residential addresses or 75% of all business and residential addresses on your chosen carrier route

Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) (No Mailing List)

EDDM® is a DIY USPS direct mail service. Unlike campaigns that use targeted or saturation mailing lists, EDDM® does not require a mailing list. That’s because your direct mail is delivered to nearly every address / door along a carrier route.

You can still do some audience segmentation with EDDM®, even though there’s no mailing list. The USPS EDDM® tool allows you to segment by the following median demographics:

  • Address types (residential or business)
  • Age
  • Household size
  • Household income

Keep in mind that because EDDM® uses median figures, your pieces will reach people who may not be interested in your offer. Direct mail sent via EDDM® is addressed to “Local Postal Customer” since there’s no mailing list. You’re also restricted when it comes to the size and format of your pieces. You can only send flats, which are large envelopes, newsletters, and magazines.

How Do I Get a Direct Mail Mailing List?

You’ve chosen the type of mailing list you want to use. But where do you get a direct mail mailing list? There are several mailing list sources, which we’ll review below.

Use Your House List

Don’t overlook your house list of existing customers or people who have expressed interest in your business in the past! This free option can be very effective because you already have information on these individuals. Here are a few examples of house lists:

  • Active customers
  • Past customers
  • Prospects who provided you with their contact information
  • Members of your rewards club or loyalty program
  • One-time customers

You own your house list, so make sure you keep it clean and updated. Here are three mailing list data hygiene best practices:

  • Make sure your mailing list is CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) certified. CASS standardizes your addresses for the USPS to ensure deliverability. This process includes things like adding ZIP + 4 codes and IMBs (Intelligent Mail Barcodes) to your mail pieces.
  • Run your mailing list through the NCOA (National Change of Address) database. This service provides up-to-date information on people who have moved within the last four years. That way, you don’t waste money mailing to people who no longer live at an address.
  • Deduplication allows you to pinpoint and merge duplicate records, which saves you money because you’re not mailing to the same people twice.

If you don’t want to use a house list (or if you don’t have one yet), you can also rent or buy a mailing list.

Rent or Buy a Mailing List

If you only plan on mailing to a group of people one or two times, renting a mailing list is a smart option. While you don’t own the names on the mailing list, you do own any information you get from the people you mail to. You don’t have to maintain the list yourself, and rented lists typically cost less than purchased lists.

If you plan on using a list many times, buying a mailing list is usually your best bet. You’ll own the names on the mailing list and any information you gather from recipients. You’ll need to perform your own list hygiene, though.

There are two main types of rented or purchased mailing lists: compiled lists and response lists.

  • Compiled lists contain the names of people with similar interests, like rock climbing, tennis, or gardening.
  • Response lists contain the names of people who have purchased from or requested information from businesses offering products / services that are similar to yours.

How Do I Track My Direct Mail Campaigns?

Direct mail tracking is very important, but many marketers overlook it. Don’t make this mistake! When choosing a tracking method, make sure you consider the format of your piece and the goals of your campaign. Make sure you’re using different tracking codes for each direct mail campaign so you can differentiate between them.

Here’s a short list of methods you can use to track your campaign:

  • Trackable phone numbers. Adding a trackable phone number to your piece allows you to determine how many calls you receive as a result of your direct mail. This helps you tweak future campaigns because you’ll know what is and isn’t working.
  • Trackable URLs or PURLs (personalized URLs). These are another easy way to track the effectiveness of your campaign. Adding a name to a URL (i.e. https://www.towermarketing.net/norafulmer) and greeting them by name on the landing page helps you speak to people on a one-to-one level.
  • Trackable email addresses. Like trackable phone numbers and URLs, printing trackable email addresses on your pieces helps you track response rates for your campaign. Use it to look for trends that you can use for future audience segmentation and tracking.
  • Coupon codes. If your direct mail piece includes coupons, make sure each coupon has its own unique code. Whether recipients redeem the coupon in person, over the phone, or online, make sure employees are meticulously tracking coupon codes. This helps you determine which offers are getting results and which ones aren’t.
  • QR codes. QR codes are easily trackable and help you glean valuable information on your direct mail campaigns. Plus, they’re easier for prospects / customers to follow up on, since they don’t have to type a URL / PURL into their web browser. All they have to do is scan your QR code with their smartphone camera or a QR code reader app.

How Much Does Direct Mail Cost?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to direct mail marketing. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. As you’ve learned, there are a wide variety of components involved in any direct mail campaign. Everything from your mailing list type to the format you use affects your cost. That’s why working with an agency that offers direct mail marketing services (like Tower!) is a great way to lower your expenses. We use our experience and connections with vendors to get you the best results at the lowest price point.

Want to try a direct mail campaign for your business? Contact our print media experts today to start the conversation!

Learn About Print Media

Research shows 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers, and 86% of B2C marketers say content is key to their overall marketing strategy. But less than 50% of marketers are creating content that aligns with the buyer’s journey.

So, why is this the case? It starts with the confusion surrounding the buyer’s journey. How many stages are there? Is it a funnel, an infinite loop, or something else entirely? And perhaps most importantly, how is it relevant to you as a content marketer?

I understand that the buyer’s journey can be complicated. To make it more digestible, I’m breaking it down into a series of four blogs: one for each stage of the buyer’s journey. I want to make this topic as easy to understand as possible. In turn, you’ll be able to take what you learn and apply it to your own marketing strategy.

Before getting too far into awareness-stage content marketing, I’ll lay the necessary groundwork. Let’s start by discussing the buyer’s journey, buyer personas, and the crucial role content marketing plays in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey.

What is the Buyer’s Journey?

The customer buying journey is the steps a prospect goes through on their way to purchasing a product or service. While there are several models of the buyer’s journey, I’ve broken it down into four main stages.

Awareness Stage

This is the first step in a buyer’s journey. At this point, the prospect becomes aware they have a problem or something missing from their lives. After coming to this realization, they start doing research to pinpoint their problem.

Consideration Stage

In this stage, the prospect has defined their problem and is ready to find a solution. They’re continuing to do research because they want to understand all of their options.

Decision Stage

The prospect has chosen how to solve their problem and created a list of companies that can help them. They’ll eventually narrow this list down and make their purchasing decision.

Post-Decision Stage

The buyer’s journey doesn’t end after the decision stage. At this point, customers are reflecting on their decision and evaluating their choice. If they’re pleased with your product or service, you have the opportunity to bring them back through the buyer cycle again.

What are Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas are an integral part of the buyer’s journey stages. Buyer personas aren’t actual people, but they’re based on the real market research you’ve collected about current customers. It’s important to be as detailed as possible when building your personas, since they play a big role in attracting qualified leads and winning new business.

Buyer Personas and the Buyer’s Journey

You might be wondering just how buyer personas relate to the buyer’s journey. Start by creating buyer personas for each stage of the buyer’s journey I outlined above. When creating your personas, determine what prospects are looking for and how they go about solving their problems. What questions should you be asking about them? Prospects are learning about you, and you should always be learning about them.

Understanding your audience also helps you demonstrate empathy because they’re more likely to trust you and consider your products or services. Think about Google and the trust they’ve built with their users. By providing free services (i.e. Google Drive, Gmail, Google Flights, Google My Business, etc.), they’ve established their value in the minds of consumers. They’ve also kept themselves top-of-mind and clearly aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

You now understand the buyer’s journey and the role buyer personas play in guiding customers through that process. But how does content marketing fit into the customer acquisition process and the buyer’s journey?

What Role Does Content Marketing Play in the Buyer’s Journey?

Content marketing plays a key role during all stages of the buyer’s journey, but don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach when creating your content. Instead, produce and share buyer’s journey content that provides the most value for prospects in that specific stage.

As I said above, in the awareness stage, prospects realize they have a problem and are trying to pinpoint it. If you want them to seriously consider you, it’s crucial that you provide upper-level educational content to help them.

Never go for the hard sell with your top of funnel content marketing. Prospects don’t want to hear about why you think your company is the best thing ever. They want impartial, expert knowledge and advice on the problem they’re trying to identify (and eventually solve).

Another way to think about this is by reflecting on your logic when it comes to choosing a digital marketing agency. You probably aren’t ready to partner with us at this point, and your prospects probably aren’t ready to sign on with you either.

Ultimately, you want to subtly nurture awareness stage prospects towards conversion. Providing them with comprehensive, useful content builds trust and increases the chances they’ll move towards a purchase decision involving your company.

How Do You Create Content for the Awareness Stage of the Buyer’s Journey?

We’ve reviewed the buyer’s journey, buyer personas, and how content maps onto the buyer’s journey. You already know the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey is the point where prospects realize they have a problem or something missing from their lives. Their next step is doing research and looking for top-level educational content and thought leadership.

Most of your prospects use Google to gather information and do research. That means it’s important to understand what their search queries look like. The prospect doesn’t know a lot about their problem at this point, so their questions are usually more open-ended. For example, they’ll probably search for “new shoes,” not “Sperry women’s striped loafers size 8.”

So, you know people are asking broad questions. To capture that traffic, anticipate their queries and address them in your content. Don’t get too detailed, though. Instead, provide quick takeaways that aren’t buried in long walls of text. Think like your user. They want to develop their understanding of their problem so they can move towards pinpointing it and preparing to find potential solutions.

Google Autocomplete

One way to think like your prospects is by utilizing Google Autocomplete. As users type questions into the search bar, Google Autocomplete suggests queries it thinks are relevant.

Google Related Searches

Google Related Searches also gives you insight into what users are thinking. Related searches show up at the bottom of every search engine results page (SERP) and have queries Google thinks are similar to the users.

What Content is Most Effective During the Awareness Stage of the Buyer’s Journey?

Awareness stage content marketing can come in a variety of forms. Here are some examples:

Always remember that providing engaging, useful content during the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey helps nurture prospects towards the consideration stage.

What Are Some Examples of Awareness Stage Marketing Campaigns?

Along with particular pieces that work well during the awareness stage, there are several awareness stage campaign types that can yield great results. Here are just a few:

  • Awareness campaigns are the perfect opportunity to provide prospects with valuable content that shows empathy for their situation. Demonstrate expertise and authority without being salesy, and you’ll start to gain their trust. End with a soft closing CTA and link to a piece of educational content so users can learn more if they want to.
  • Grand opening campaigns are great for prospects who haven’t heard of your business yet. If you’re opening a new location (and most of your customers are local), consider a grand opening campaign.
    Invite prospects in for a free seminar, educational course, or webinar about your company that provides helpful information without being pushy.
  • Birthday and new mover marketing campaigns are perfect for businesses who know their prospects’ birthdays or have access to data on new movers. Try targeting these people with free offers and discounts on the informational events we mentioned above. Again, don’t be pushy or try to advertise your brand too heavily in this stage.

Want help with your content marketing efforts? Our team of digital marketing specialists is here to help!

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This blog was updated March 2017.

Who loves stats??? I love stats! And there is no topic with more abundant stats than the impact of videos on potential customers. Here’s data-driven confirmation showing why you need to start exploring the different elements of video in your content marketing strategy:

  • 87% of online marketers use video content
  • 90% of users say product videos are helpful in the decision process
  • 1/3 of all online activity is spent watching video
  • 80% of users recall a video they viewed in the past 30 days
  • 22% of small businesses plan to post a video in the next 12 months

Making the decision to create video content opens you up to a lot of avenues so we’re recommending five elements of video that you should include in your video content strategy.

recording video on a iPhone, DIY videos, elements of videos

1. Mini Videos

Until recently, Vine was the king of mini videos, with its looping 6-second videos that were perfect for social media consumption. Now the king is dead, but that’s fine. There are plenty of ways to add a video to your social content strategy without Vine. The newest way to get quick videos into your social feeds is with the use of Boomerang. If you’re not familiar with Boomerang, it’s part hyper-lapse, part GIF, and lots of fun! With the use of the Boomerang app and the click of a button, you can create a 1-second looping video that can have a big impact. Even in such a quick burst, using Boomerang video you have the opportunity to:

  • highlight a product feature
  • show off your personality
  • tease something new

2. DIY Videos

Some companies may be reluctant to get started with video content because they mistakenly think they need big budgets and professional resources to create a successful video. That’s not necessarily the case. So grab your iPhone and don’t be afraid to get a little down and dirty. Even though a DIY video is meant to have a grassroots feel you still want to take care to create a quality product, so take the necessary steps to stabilize your phone with a tripod, use proper lighting, and ensure good sound quality. Use DIY video production to create:

  • a tips or advice video series
  • instructional or how-to videos
  • a “day in the life” video

3. Splashy Production Videos

While we advocate for giving DIY video a try, we also realize that there are circumstances when you’ll need the services of a professional videographer and big-time production value. Hiring a videographer will give you a more polished end product because he or she will expertly fine-tune all aspects of the production process, including lighting, sound quality, framing, and editing. Add a budget line item for professional video production when you want to create:

  • product launch videos
  • branding videos
  • company culture videos

4. Animated Videos

Animated videos may be the trickiest addition to our elements of video list, as it not only requires professional video production but also a talented illustrator. That being said animated videos can play a special role in your content marketing strategy and have been given the nickname “explainer animation.” Animation’s strength is that it can break down complex information and present it in a format that simply and visually presents information to the viewer. Here are a few examples of explainer animation videos that consistently top the “best of” lists:

5. User-Generated Videos

Some brands have uncovered the secret of creating loads of video content – letting their customers do the work for them! User-generated content (UGC) is a photo, a tweet, or in this case, a video that features a user or fan promoting a product or brand, instead of the brand promoting itself. User-generated content is a fantastic tool to address the trend that consumers, especially those in the millennial demographic, trust personal recommendations and endorsements over traditional advertising messages. Use these examples of successful user-generated videos to inspire your own UGC campaign:

Are you ready to put these elements of video to work in your content marketing strategy?

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It’s not always easy brainstorming new content ideas; especially when you’ve been blogging since Day One, and you feel as though you’ve covered every topic under the sun within your industry. Trust us, we’ve been there, staring at the blank piece of paper labeled “Amazing Content Topics for XYZ Month.” So what to do when you’ve got a serious case of brainstorm block? Below we’ve outlined some creative ideas to get outside your own head when brainstorming new content ideas. Some we’ve tackled, others we can’t wait to try ourselves. Let’s dive.

The Magic of Generalized Topic Ideas

If you work with SEOs, then you know that the more niche and long-tail the focus keyword is for a content piece the better. I agree (as I AM an SEO myself). However, sometimes looking for that perfect, specific, unicorn keyword isn’t realistic. Focus, instead, on generalized topics and narrow it down from there.

For example, let’s say you work at Pets-R-Us. You feel as though you’ve beaten pet care, pet emergencies and adopting pet topics into the ground. You’ve focused on heartworm in dogs, dental care in cats, things your audience may not have known about guienea pigs, and why certain fish can’t be together in a fishbowl. You’re feeling stuck.

Instead of looking for a granular keyword, pull out your focus and pick something basic…like birds! Now, you may have written 100 blogs on birds. That’s cool; keep in mind what ones you have already written, but start narrowing down from there. Pull out as many possible bird blog ideas as humanly possible. Write a giant list of all the possible scenarios you could touch on when it comes to birds. Your list is probably getting pretty long. If you’re still feeling a bit perplexed, we tend to turn to Answer the Public. Here you can type in a keyword phrase and it provides you hundreds of questions people have asked surrounding that topic that you can answer.

Jeopardy Topic Ideas

This method has the #TeamTower stamp of approval for topic generation. If your business has multiple facets and/or product lines, pull a sample of people from each team. Come together and start writing in the form of questions about your specific department. Categorize your questions based on monetary value:

  • $100-$200 Questions: Basic, top-level questions that we receive on a pretty regular basis
  • $400-$600 Questions: Questions we receive that are a little more intensive, for the intermediate level customer
  • $800-$1,000 Questions: Questions that we ourselves ask others in the office as experts or have seen on professional forums about this product/department/skill

Set a timer for each round of questions and keep the questions for brainstorming new content pieces moving forward.

Getting Outside Your Four Walls

Oftentimes as marketers we forget that there’s a whole world of people outside our office, including a) our audience itself and b) influencers who speak the same language we do. Consider the following when brainstorming content ideas:

  • Ask current customers what they want to know more about. Send them a survey or pose the question on social media.
  • If you’re open to guest writers, pick their brains about topics they feel are your weak points on the blog and/or topics that they themselves have more experience in than you do.
  • Look at popular industry forums and see what questions other professionals are asking. Write a couple blogs that specifically answer these questions and post the link back in the forum when you’re done.
  • Reach out to businesses/consumers that might use your product/service. Ask them, if they were looking into purchasing your product/service, what questions would they want to have answered when looking at a potential site.

“Do Geckos…” and Other Recent Google Search Ideas

Screen Shot 2017-01-27 at 4.17.55 PM

It may seem too simple, but oftentimes the best ideas are. Looking for a topic? Start typing into your Google search bar and see what others have looked for recently regarding that topic. You may be surprised that many of the questions posed could all be included into one singular blog.

Imitation Is the Greatest Form of Flattery…And Then Do It Better.

Get inspired. Find other content pieces and topics that you love on Pinterest, on competitors’ sites, through popular content publications, by other influencers…and then figure out how you can either a) expand on the topic or b) make it more compelling, interesting, or entertaining.

For example, you find an amazing blog on a competitors site entitled “The First Six Months With a New Puppy.”  It explains all the vaccines you should be getting for your pup, what common health issues might pop up, training qualms to expect and growth patterns. The information is comprehensive and the writing is easily formatted enough to not be overwhelming for users. It’s a 10/10 on the content scale. So how can you do the same but better? We know humans are visual creatures. How about an infographic? How about personal anecdotes from your customers? How about a “Case by Case” scenario or a comparison chart between common breeds? In what way can you take a topic that’s already been done and make it 10X better?

Feeling like your creative well has run dry can be tough, but finding the right brainstorming technique can crack the code for the jackpot of all ideas. We wish you luck and happy writing!

How are you brainstorming content ideas? Have a topic you’d like us to write about?

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Clients often ask us, “How can we measure our website performance? Furthermore, how can we learn more about our customers wants and needs to ensure they become repeat visitors?

While there are many tools on the market that measure performance, if you want a tool with robust statistics and comprehensive data [for FREE, we might add] our go-to suggestion is always Google Analytics.

The major pro of Google Analytics? There is limitless information you can learn about your website and your users. The con? It can be immensely overwhelming for beginners taking the plunge. Not to fear! We have compiled the following list of Google Analytics Beginner must-knows to help ease the transition between novice and expert.

1. The Initial Set-Up

  • Installing the Tracking Code: This is the very first step to setting-up your Google Analytics. Tracking code, called a snippet, that is unique to your website domain acts as the gateway between your customer’s behaviors and you. The code allows you to track where your customers are coming from, what page they landed on first, what links were clicked, how long they were on the site, what they read, what they bought, and so much more. If you have a developer or IT, they should be able to insert this code in less than 5 minutes.
    • Be aware that you tracking code can be customized! Google Analytics lets you customize your unique tracking code to be able to measure how your customers interact with your website. For example, you can track email campaigns, banner ad clicks, coupon codes – the list goes on.
  • Creating Different Views: Setting up multiple views is important to obtain a more accurate depiction of your website data. There’s no right or wrong way to set up your Google Analytics, but at Tower, we set ours up with 3 views:
  1. Unfiltered View: This view tracks all traffic from all domains that flow through the site
  2. Master View: This view tracks all website data but pulls out domains that may skew true traffic data (like your employee’s computer domains).
  3. Test View: A view that we are able to test different trackings & codes before pushing to live analytics
  • Setting Up Goals: Set goals in the Admin menu that are specific to your website and what you’d like to achieve using the goal categories provided. You can set goals for items such as average purchase amount, email sign-up, time on site, etc. You can even give goals a monetary value so you can see how a conversion translates into dollars.

2. Understanding Reports

Google Analytics offers a variety of reports for you to view and glean information from. It is important, as a Google Analytics Beginner, that you understand the functionality of these reports and how they best can be used to strategize & analyze marketing efforts. Here are the four basic reports in Google Analytics:

  • Dashboard View: Your dashboard is one-and-done report that shows you an overall perspective of your website traffic and user behavior. The dashboard view is the “big picture” that also allows for managers and marketers alike to see key success factors.
  • Conversion Reports: Also considered eCommerce reports, conversion reports tell the story of a sale, form submission or event sign-up from beginning to end.
  • Content & Behavior Reports: Content & behavior reports dive into a user’s brain and help marketeers understand: 1) How a user interacts with a piece of content and 2) Whether that content is performing well based on A, B, and C factors (like bounce rate, amount of time on page, exit percentage, etc.). Content & behavior reports and incredibly useful when A/B testing new types of content or if you’re trying to understand how a user might flow through your site and through your sales funnel.
  • Sources Report: Looking to see where traffic comes from helps marketers better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their overall strategy & team efforts. A Source Report shows you whether your organic SEO efforts are paying off with a gradual increase month-to-month or if your social media traffic is drastically down in comparison to the same time period last year.
  • Technology Report: We all know that mobile comprises 60% of all web traffic, but for certain industries, this can shift. Learn more about what devices your users are using to interact with your site to form strategies around remote design and types of content in the future.
  • Customized Reports: With Google Analytics, you can create a variety of custom reports that best suit the needs and goals of your company. For example: keyword analysis report, hours & days report, browser acquisition report or a page timing report.

3. Knowing What to Look For

Google Analytics can be mind-boggling. There are numbers and data and graphs all over the screen; where to concentrate on first? Before you start digging into the data, first consider what your most important objectives are. Traffic increases? Greater user engagement? Broader source of leads? These goals will drive future analysis. For Google Analytics Beginners just getting acquainted with the system, it’s better to break the interface down to specific parts (because looking holistically can sometimes be misleading). These three areas are good to start:

  1. Landing Page Stats: This may include bounce rates, time on page, user drop-off, engagement with certain links and/or forms. Your landing pages can give a lot of information on how a user interacts with your site, especially landing pages that are house conversions. Look at the landing pages that you are trying to drive the greatest amount of traffic to and start familiarizing yourself with what each statistic does, and does not, mean.
  2. Traffic Sources: By viewing your traffic sources, as mentioned above, you can see where most of your traffic is generating from and what cylinders to fire and what others to keep on idle.
  3. Demographics: If you have a brick-and-mortar store, one of the first things you will do is analyze your customer base. It’s no different digitally. Understanding first and foremost what demographic of people are coming to your site helps you create web copy, strategize on how a person would use your site and how to approach a sale.

4. Our Favorites

At Tower, we use Google Analytics day in and day out. Our team is filled with Google Analytics nerds (and we better be as Google Partners). Here are our team’s Google Analytics Awards, including reports and tools, we think you should know about:

Most Useful: Traffic Channels

Most Fun: Behavior Flow

Least Likely To Be Accurate: Bounce Rates

Most Thorough: Landing Page Analysis (it’s a rabbit hole of information)

Most Underrated: Campaigns

Most Overrated: Referrals

Un-Sung Hero: Social Reports

Favorite Overall: Conversions

Do you have more questions about Google Analytics? Have nominations for our Google Analytics Awards? Unsure where to start?

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As a business, you have your own tasks and duties to focus on. That’s why you hired an agency to do your marketing in the first place, right? Not quite. You want to see results from the agency you hire, but there is a big difference between good results and great results – YOU. All too often, clients hire an agency to do their digital marketing and then don’t partake in the process. I’m not blaming clients for this; rather, I want to stress that businesses that hire marketing agencies should be involved from A-Z . That is when they will see the best results.

Why Do Clients Need to Collaborate with the Marketing Agency?

There needs to be agency and client collaboration for any and all digital marketing services to achieve the best results. Good marketing is relational by nature. Nurturing and understanding from both the client and agency contributes to online success. Find out why your business should be involved with your marketing agency’s plans and projects:

Clear Communication and Understanding Goals from the Get-Go

This might seem obvious, but it is often overlooked. There should be an initial discovery discussion where the agency can ask questions to better understand your business, culture, target audience, needs, and business approach. The marketing agency needs to learn about the current state of your business so it can prepare to move ahead with a solid plan. You, as their client, are who will shed that much-needed light.

Being Involved Means Understanding the Process

A large reason why I encourage clients to be involved with the marketing execution is so they understand the process.

  • Clients will have a better understanding of timelines for creating a website, creating an SEO campaign, or developing creative content.
  • Clients will be able to offer insight as the agency makes progress.
  • Clients will have a better sense of what to communicate to higher management

Trust and Transparency

When a client is involved, sharing ideas and being a team member, this allows for transparency. When there is nothing to hide, there will be no nasty surprises for either party to be caught unaware and have to fix. Developing a working relationship on a regular basis with an agency prevents miscommunication, helps to move the process along, and encourages an environment of trust. Where there is trust and transparency between client and agency, there are productive marketing results.

A Stronger Force

The marketing agency does not know your business as well as you do. That is why it is imperative for your business to be involved in all areas of marketing efforts being carried out by the agency. The client should be the face(s) of the company, not the agency. People trust you more than your agency. The agency is more of a supportive device rather than the front-facing part of your company. As a result, when an agency supports the client, the client will be more willing to support the marketing efforts of the agency. This collaboration will produce a stronger force that can achieve more.

The Client Becomes Better at Marketing

Through collaboration with the agency, the client will become a well-oiled marketing machine. By building relationships and working in a transparent environment, the client will naturally become better educated in internet marketing.

Better Results

Clients hire a marketing agency to get results. A marketing agency that has the collaborative efforts of their clients will be able to do more in less time and with a better understanding of the client’s industry. When clients help navigate the murky waters of marketing, agencies can focus on other important factors. Collaborative business relationships are not easy. It takes time to build-up communication, trust, and transparency, but it can yield long-lasting results.

Looking for a collaborative relationship with a marketing agency? Meet our expert team and learn how we can collaborate.

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